Do I need Discovery to use SAM Pro

Jon M3 · ‎10-29-2018

I own SAM plugin and we recently purchased SAM Pro. Im getting 2 different answers to the question above. Currently we use SCCM for software discovery. We are not at this time using SN to track software in our data-center and dont intend to anytime soon.

So the question is do I need Discovery to use SAM Pro? Why or why not? What advantages do get either way?

Daniel Slocum · ‎10-29-2018

Hi Jon,

ServiceNow recommends the use of SCCM for End User Computing and ServiceNow Discovery for infrastructure devices. You are already utilizing SCCM so the remainder of my response is regarding ServiceNow Discovery.

You are getting different answers because it really is a Yes and a No. Let me elaborate. Because ServiceNow is a platform where most anything is possible, you can use SAM Professional with any Discovery Source, which makes the answer to your question, "Do I need [ServiceNow] Discovery to use SAM Pro?" No.

Let's look at the Yes, and most important side of the answer. The ITAM Business Unit, responsible for the development and maintenance of SAM Professional, has been working very closely with the ServiceNow Discovery Business Unit to enhance the Discovery product to meet functional goals associated with each Publisher Pack. For example, new functionality for SN Discovery has been added to identify installed Oracle Database Options (Jakarta) and to return if those installed Database Options are in use (London). Not only have the correct probes/patterns/sensors etc. been developed but the transform map to import that data into the SN CMDB has been developed and fully tested. This means when SAM Professional Reconciliation runs, the data is where it is expected and in the format anticipated. While the data is different, the scenario is the same for each Publisher Pack and will be for enhancements to the existing packs and for those to come. So, for this reason, the answer to your question is "yes".

Hope this clears the confusion.

Regards.. Daniel

View solution in original post

Daniel Slocum · ‎10-29-2018

Hi Jon,

ServiceNow recommends the use of SCCM for End User Computing and ServiceNow Discovery for infrastructure devices. You are already utilizing SCCM so the remainder of my response is regarding ServiceNow Discovery.

You are getting different answers because it really is a Yes and a No. Let me elaborate. Because ServiceNow is a platform where most anything is possible, you can use SAM Professional with any Discovery Source, which makes the answer to your question, "Do I need [ServiceNow] Discovery to use SAM Pro?" No.

Let's look at the Yes, and most important side of the answer. The ITAM Business Unit, responsible for the development and maintenance of SAM Professional, has been working very closely with the ServiceNow Discovery Business Unit to enhance the Discovery product to meet functional goals associated with each Publisher Pack. For example, new functionality for SN Discovery has been added to identify installed Oracle Database Options (Jakarta) and to return if those installed Database Options are in use (London). Not only have the correct probes/patterns/sensors etc. been developed but the transform map to import that data into the SN CMDB has been developed and fully tested. This means when SAM Professional Reconciliation runs, the data is where it is expected and in the format anticipated. While the data is different, the scenario is the same for each Publisher Pack and will be for enhancements to the existing packs and for those to come. So, for this reason, the answer to your question is "yes".

Hope this clears the confusion.

Regards.. Daniel

beatrizhernande · ‎11-02-2020

Also, keep in mind that ServiceNow strongly recommends use Discovery for data center see below some of the advantages

ServiceNow Discovery offers the following advantages:

• No integration required – Because ServiceNow Discovery shares the same platform as SAM, you don’t have to create and maintain integration points between them.

• SAM publisher pack data collection – Discovery collects the publisher-specific installation data necessary for reconciliation for key publishers. For example, you use this data in the SAM VMware Publisher Pack, with Discovery collecting VMware License Key and License Key Usage details.

you can see more info on these documents https://servicenow.highspot.com/search?q=Normalize+Discovered+Software+for+Effective+Software+Asset+...

https://servicenow.highspot.com/items/5c425f0d8117174a378aa55a?lfrm=srp.0

mikewhalley1 · ‎11-02-2020

Things have changed in the Paris release:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-it-asset-management/page/product/software-asset-management2/concept/third-party-discovery-sam.html

In addition to Discovery and SCCM, third-party discovery sources can be used to discover the installed software data that you can integrate with ServiceNow SAM.

Runjay Patel · ‎12-15-2020

Software Asset Management (SAM - Pro)

Check out this video, it will clear all your doubts and help you to understand Software Asset Management (SAM - Pro) in details.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIGcZxQaeEoh0bObsaDpMeYk2N2QXAtBK

It will help you resolve below queries:

SAM Offers / Challenges
Deep Understanding about SAM Terminology
IT Assets & Configuration Items
IT And Software Asset Lifecycle
SAM Optimization Checklist
Plugins For Software Asset Management
Software Entitlement
- Software Entitlement Import
- Benefits of using software entitlements
- To download to entitlement import template
- Entitlement Import Process
- Entitlement Import Errors
- Entitlement Review and Clear Errors
Software Asset Management (SAM) Lab
- Play with SAM Roles
- Upload Software Model/ Product Catalog
- Various way to do Normalization
- Creating a Custom Products
- Reconciliation
- Understand Entitlement Metrics
- Software Usage
- Reclamation